Welding Tips and Tricks

i have a 30a attached to a miller 251. recently it has started birdnesting the wire as it enters the liner. im not sure what has changed but this is a new issues. doesnt get used a lot. only had 3 of 4 lbs of wire through it. i was trying to adjust the drive roll tension and it wadded the wire up without the diffuser or tip installed. thank you in advance for any help

I'd just replace the liner. Likely, you've got a crud build-up, or there was a lack of electrical contact at the diffuser allowing your wire to take current along the liner leaving rough arc strikes in it.

Steve S

it has a new liner in it, as well as head tube, and tip adapter. the head tube had been broken by another employee. i tried to clean and adjust everything that i could last night, and same results....with the diffuser and tip off and wire free and out of the liner....squeeze the trigger feeds about a foot of wire at a slow speed then speeds up runs a couple feet of wire then starts wading it up at the liner just out of the feed roll....just trying to adjust feed roll tension like the manual shows wads up the wire.....??? stumped

CE CLECKLER wrote:it has a new liner in it, as well as head tube, and tip adapter. the head tube had been broken by another employee. i tried to clean and adjust everything that i could last night, and same results....with the diffuser and tip off and wire free and out of the liner....squeeze the trigger feeds about a foot of wire at a slow speed then speeds up runs a couple feet of wire then starts wading it up at the liner just out of the feed roll....just trying to adjust feed roll tension like the manual shows wads up the wire.....??? stumped

Your wire may be rusty or not wound up right on the spool this has happened to me before.

Do you have a brass guide tube going from feed rollers to the to the torch entrance so there's no space there for the wire to bend and jam up.

Nickeng wrote:Do you have a brass guide tube going from feed rollers to the to the torch entrance so there's no space there for the wire to bend and jam up.

i'll look at that...thats where it messes up

Even if you have a brass guide take a close look at the inside of it. I've seen were the wire will rub a groove in the guide and after it gets deep enough it will bind the wire.